Metal fluoride phosphors have been known for some time (F. Auzel, D. Pecile, Journal of Luminescence, 8, 32-43, 1973). These phosphors may be used for Upcoversion of infrared (IR) radiation to various forms of visible light. It was not until the development and commercialization of compound semiconductor diode lasers, that emit laser radiation at IR frequencies, that interest in these phosphors reappeared More specifically there is a great deal of interest in thin film articles, based on these phosphors, that can be optically coupled to said laser diodes to produce visible light. ZBLAN (Zr, Ba, La, Al, Nd), AZF (Al, Zr, Y, etc), and AYF (AL, Y, Mg, etc.), collectively known as heavy metal fluoride glass phosphors, are some of the phosphors that have been identified as effective upconversion phosphors. These types of material are difficult to deposit in thin film form because of the large variance in the vapor pressures, and different chemical stability of the constituent fluorides. When depositing mixed alkaline-earth metal fluorides and rare earth metal fluorides, this can result in polycrystalline films with the possible contamination of carbon and oxygen furthermore their processing required high temperatures usually above 500.degree. C. (G.R. Paz-Pujalt, U.S. Pat. No. 5,051,278, issued Jun. 23, 1992 entitled Method of Forming Metal Fluoride Films by the Decomposition of Metallo-organic Compounds in the Presence of a Fluorinating Agent).